HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness

The AIDS Institute and AIDS Alliance for Women, Infants, Children, Youth and Families produced a video to address HIV stigma among older women for National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day.

HIV/AIDS HAS NO AGE

Worldwide, an estimated 3.6 million people aged 50+ are living with HIV.

The prevalence of HIV among older adults is reaching staggering rates. About 1 in 4 adults in the United States who are living with HIV infection are aged 50 or older. 18% of new HIV diagnoses occur among those aged 50 and older.

With advanced treatment options, HIV positive individuals are living longer lives. However, the interactions between aging and degeneration caused by HIV have become a public health concern that needs to generate appropriate awareness and education.

Efforts to expand HIV prevention messages for older adults should also include information and resources about linking newly diagnosed individuals to care while also advocating to ensure these individuals have appropriate access to care and treatment.

With your help, we can work to create awareness in our local communities!

September 18th is National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day. Here are three facts from our federal colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and three insights from staff members at The AIDS Institute (TAI).

On July 27 – 28, 2015, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) is co-hosted the 2015 Healthy Aging Summit in Washington, D.C with the American College of Preventive Medicine. The conference addressed the latest advances in research that helps Americans live longer and healthier lives.

2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act, as well as the 80th anniversary of Social Security. The 2015 White House Conference on Aging is an opportunity to recognize the importance of these key programs as well as to look ahead to the issues that will help shape the landscape for older Americans for the next decade.

Many observers were surprised when Indiana Governor Mike Pence issued an executive order on March 26, 2015, declaring a public health emergency after a rapidly escalating outbreak of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was identified in Scott County, a rural region on the Kentucky border. Others, however, had seen it coming.